1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to a system, apparatus and method for the transformation of Java server pages into formats for various pervasive computing (PvC) devices.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of Java Server Pages (JSPs) for the generation of dynamic HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML) content is becoming more popular. JSP provides a methodology by which information related to the content and information related to the presentation of the content may be separated. For example, JSP provides a <bean> tag which is utilized to obtain content, such as Java applets, while HTML tags are used to specify presentation of the content.
A problem arises in these prior JSPs in that they are designed with the assumption that the presentation of the content will be rendered in a browser that executes on a desktop workstation with a full-sized, high resolution, full-color monitor. As the use of mobile handheld pervasive computing (PvC) devices becomes more prevalent, the assumption used in the design of JSPs becomes a stumbling block since there is a need to deliver the JSP to a variety of PvC devices whose browsing screen size capabilities are drastically different from that of a desktop workstation.
One way to address this problem is to have a transcoding proxy server, or servlet, intercept the JSP and transcode it dynamically, i.e., on the fly, as the JSP is being sent to the PvC device. This option results in extra overhead costs incurred each and every time the JSP is invoked.
A second approach to solving this problem is to have a human JSP developer design and create separate JSPs for each and every PvC device one might want to support. This approach has the disadvantage of extra cost required to have the additional JSPs authored by a human developer who needs to be cognizant of the capabilities of the PvC devices he or she intends to support.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a system, apparatus and method that provides a mechanism by which JSPs may be automatically converted to formats useable by a plurality of PvC devices.